


Let My People Go

by Opalgirl



Category: Tortall - Pierce
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-11
Updated: 2010-04-11
Packaged: 2017-10-08 21:19:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/79609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Opalgirl/pseuds/Opalgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thayet appeals to Adigun <i>jin</i> Wilima to change his treatment of the K'mir. Set before <i>Lioness Rampant</i>, and before Kalasin I's suicide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let My People Go

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning:** Racism (Adigun is supposed to 'hate' the K'mir, according to Buri). This does not reflect my own beliefs or feelings towards anyone.
> 
> **Notes:** I guesstimated at Kalasin I's height, based on the fact that the average height for real-world Thai and Mongolian women is about five feet two inches, according to the Internet.****

Father." 

Adigun set aside his maps and looked up. Thayet, radiant in a green gown, trimmed at cuffs and hems with the small, intricate, and brightly-colored embroideries K'miri women were known for, stood next to him. She wore her long hair in a single braid, and no jewelry or ornaments.

"Thayet." He reached out to her, meaning to embrace her, but she didn't move to reciprocate.

"Father," she repeated, and looked at him squarely. "This is folly; I beg you to reconsider."

He frowned at his only daughter. "In what world is a woman learned enough to question my decisions? I do not even know what you speak of."

"You do." She had not flinched at the half-hidden insult, nor had she moved. "Father, the K'mir are people._My_ people. You cannot treat them like herd animals; they will never accept it."

He snorted and glared at her, rising to his feet. "They are _your_ people are they now, daughter? You know as well as I what they say of you – they would no sooner accept you than they would me."

That got a reaction, but only the slightest of ones. "I would treat them as if they were _people_, where you will not." Thayet's chin tilted upwards, stubbornly. "If you would stop this persecution of the K'mir, they would have little reason to rebel."

"You believe so? Then you are a fool and your education was wasted upon you." 

Adigun was about to return to his map and his plans, when Kalasin stepped up to stand at Thayet's elbow. A head shorter than her daughter, she was still as lovely as she had been. There was a gleam of anger in her eyes and her rigid posture gave away her fury.

"_You_ encouraged this," he growled, glaring at his wife; he hadn't been aware that she was present.

Kalasin said nothing and stared at him, anger and hope mingling in her eyes. She would never answer that question, he realized; she would never tell him if she had encouraged Thayet's thinking. 

"Do not insult my daughter, my lord," she said finally, her Common still rough around the edges. "For she is my _daughter_ and not your obedient pawn. If you concerned yourself with _my_ people, _her_ people, you would know how much the K'mir prize our daughters. She can outwit most of your men and her education was not wasted."

"If your savages prize your females so, you can have her – and see what good she brings you."

Kalasin stepped back from him and looked down her nose at him, nostrils flaring in her anger. "Savagery would be breaking free and ravaging lowlander homes and towns – and this very palace. We could bring this stone down around your head, Adigun, given the time. It will happen, if you keep to this path. Our people strike to defend their homes and their families, when they are attacked by _your_ savages."

Thayet tried to steady her mother and turned back to him. "Father. The K'mir have shown restraint, but for how much longer, I can't say. Please."

He snorted. "That's soft-hearted nonsense, Thayet. If they think they can make a stand against me – and if you believe they can – you're all fools."

His only child's voice dropped in pitch and she met his gaze, her green eyes afire. "Soft-hearted nonsense? Treating other humans as if they're humans and not like livestock is soft-hearted nonsense." Thayet's voice wobbled and she'd clenched her hands in her skirts, her knuckles turned white from the grip. "Mother is right – they could bring all of the lowland down, if they held less honor and respect – something your men lack!"

Without realizing what he was doing, he raised a hand, meaning to strike. In very nearly an instant, two things happened: A grip of steel closed around his wrist and a K'mir girl-child bolted across the study to stand squarely in front of Thayet, glaring at him for all she was worth.

Thayet let go of his wrist, slowly. "You forget that K'miri women are trained in the art of war, just as the men," she said, her eyes and voice cold and flat. 

The brown-skinned girl did not touch him, but she did not move. "I never thought I'd have to defend my princess from her own _father_," she growled, brown eyes flashing in anger. She stepped backwards, and spat on the floor at his feet, before towing the princess from the room.

"Who is that, Kalasin?" he demanded, and his wife looked away, as if she wasn't going to answer. "Who _is_the filthy little savage, who takes such liberties with _my_ flesh and blood?"

"That is Buriram, the child of my companion, Pakhona," she said quietly. "Buriram has chosen to guard Thayet. She takes such duty seriously, husband – I would not suggest crossing her or attempting to strike my child again."

"Thayet needs no guard – and she does _not_ need to be guarded by a savage girl-child."

Kalasin merely stared at him once again. "Perhaps she does, if you will no longer listen, my lord."


End file.
